Empire of Stars

by D. W. Patterson

  “They've accepted the code,” he said.

  Then suddenly a link like a bulbous drop of cloud opened above Sigmund's domicile and engulfed it. When the cloud dissipated the residence was gone.

  “Walker that's not mine,” said Sigmund.

  “I'm sorry Sigmund the coordinates were off a little,” said Walker in defense.

  “Never mind,” said Dag. “We'll get it next orbit which will be in about ninety minutes.”

  “Fine,” said Sigmund. “But I'm the one that has got to explain this mess to Laeoin.”

  Hearing Sigmund whine, Walker wasn't completely sorry.

  16

  The next orbit Walker was able to link himself aboard the Perseus. By the following orbit he was calling.

  “Dag are you reading me?”

  “Yes Walker go ahead.”

  “We've got trouble.”

  “What is it?”

  “You'll see when I link you up.”

  “Very well.”

  A moment later and Dag was standing next to Walker. Sigmund was still explaining to Laeoin that they would return his building as soon as possible.

  “What's the trouble Walker?”

  “Someone has linked aboard this vessel while we were on the surface.”

  “How can you tell?”

  “The log has been changed. It's almost imperceptible but it has been altered. I think it was changed to hide the presence of our visitor.”

  “A Dhalkan no doubt,” said Dag. “Okay let's see if I can find the gravity waves.”

  Dag went to work with the spin-two drive and his Casimir detector following a trail of broken entanglements. After a few minutes, he stopped his work.

  “Walker we've got a problem.”

  “What Dag?”

  “I've been following the gravity wave trail, actually two trails. They were both funneled into a link.”

  “And then what?”

  “I don't know. I suspect they will be here anytime.”

  “You mean they will destroy the planet just like they destroyed the Earth's fusion ships?”

  “Similar but much more powerful and not in the way I expected. If I'm correct when the two waves meet here there will be places where they reinforce, just as water waves do, and the energy will become so intense at those places that naked singularities will form. In the case of the planet, a singularity would essentially eat it from the inside out. Even if it doesn't the powerful gravity will stretch and squeeze the planet into a lifeless hulk.”

  “All the Trilon will die Dag.”

  “I know.”

  “What can we do? We have to link them out of there.”

  “We don't have enough room and stores to link all of them onto the Perseus.”

  “So?”

  Dag was silent for a minute.

  “We will need the Earth to help.”

  “What if they refuse?” said Walker.

  “They can't. They have a treaty and besides, it's the right thing to do.”

  “I don't know Dag. Humans don't always honor treaties.”

  “We will force them to Walker. If they don't then we will refuse to continue our agreement. Technically they already broke it by sending in those fusion ships that the Dhalkans destroyed.”

  “I hope you're right,” said Sigmund as Dag explained the situation to him.

  Dag was right but only after days of discussion. Days that ate into the needed time to save the Trilon.

  Sigmund had Walker link himself, Laeoin and a few representatives to discuss the situation.

  “You discussed the probability with Laeoin that we would not be able to get all the Trilons off the planet?”

  “I did Dag. But it strangely seemed not to concern him.”

  “I don't understand?”

  “It seems the Trilon have what we might call a collective memory. You know the way they are always bowing to each other? Well that brings their heads close enough together that a link is established using radio frequency transmissions that are normally missing.

  “Anyway at that time what Laeoin calls a neuro-exchange occurs. Understanding is driven by these exchanges, pair by Trilon pair. One Trilon would exchange his summary with another Trilon, and that Trilon then exchanges the conjugated summary with the original Trilon. They, that is the original Trilon and the other, will now exchange this new summary which would again be conjugated by another Trilon, and so on, and so on, until the entire Trilon population has, what Laeoin calls The New Path in their minds.

  “So it seems that in Laeoin's mind, that is in a Trilon's mind, it doesn't matter if we can't transport all of them out of danger because those left behind physically are carried mentally into the future in the minds of the rest of the tribe. Not like humans or we might remember a few of those that are no longer with us but they exist in the very race of Trilons, as long as that race exists.”

  “You're saying Sigmund that any number of Trilons we save is okay?”

  “Well I suppose there is a certain minimum number necessary to continue what they call The Path and apparently we will be able to save enough. However, the ones we bring aboard the Perseus must eventually be reunited with those saved by Earth so that a “harmonization of understanding” as Laeoin calls it, can be achieved.”

  “I'm not sure I understand it all,” said Dag. “I'm glad Laeoin is satisfied with our efforts but I'm pretty disappointed. Earth still hasn't agreed to help.”

  Sigmund just shook his head in the affirmative.

  It was only a few minutes later that Dag's Emmie alarmed.

  “Oh no. Sigmund we're too late.”

  “Why Dag?”

  “The interferometer is already detecting gravity waves. It's beginning.”

  Although the wave packets were limited in extent, they had a small leading and trailing edge. This meant that smaller waves signaled the approaching huge waves some minutes before they would arrive.

  Dag immediately linked the Perseus to a position far enough away from the Trilon planet to be out of danger. But close enough to watch the results through a link.

  “When will you establish the link Dag?”

  “In a minute Sigmund. If I establish it too soon the intensity of the waves will just terminate it.”

  A minute passed.

  “Okay I'm ready.”

  The link was established at a distance that showed the planet as a large disk. Walker was manning the scope and projecting the resulting image onto the wallscreen. The three were in the control room along with a handful of Trilons, Laeoin being one of them.

  The continents and oceans could easily be made out. But it wasn't long until the bulge was also obvious. The gravitational waves had arrived and were so large that stretching and compressing of the planet's globe could be measured in hundreds of kilometers. The planet kept up the cartoonish oscillations while the surface became more and more hidden by the dust and smoke from the continuous upheaval of the continents and the steaming water vapor of the oceans as they were boiled by the released heat of deep fissures. It wasn't long until it had cloaked itself in this death shroud and further viewing could only differentiate between striations of cloud and dust.

  Dag closed the link.

  “It is done,” said Laeoin as he turned from the screen to address Dag.

  “When we will arrive?”

  “I will have you on Earth with the rest of your people very soon Laeoin.”

  “Very thank you Dag, excited to see.”

  Laeoin and the other Trilons then left.

  “It's remarkable that they can watch the destruction of their world and the great loss of life so objectively.”

  “Well Walker,” said Sigmund, “in my dealings with the Trilon I have come to realize how stoic they are. And although I don't know where it is located, since even Laeoin doesn't know, that was not their home world. So perhaps they were not as attached as we would expect.”

  17

  Even delivering the Trilons aboard to their Eart
h sanctuary didn't lighten the mood of the three. It felt a failure because of all the destruction and loss of life they had been unable to prevent.

  “Dag do you feel as I do that we failed miserably?”

  “Sigmund I feel that we made a poor decision somewhere. I don't think we can feel otherwise considering the outcome.”

  “Over half a million were still on the planet when it was destroyed.”

  “We should have destroyed that gravity wave machine when we had the opportunity.”

  “But Dag we couldn't know that the Dhalkans would destroy the planet and their own machine.”

  “Well we know now that they are ruthlessly efficient in their efforts to destroy human and other life and we need to modify our tactics accordingly.”

  Humans had done well using the old wormhole drive to found home worlds up to two-hundred light-years from Earth. They still hadn't taken advantage of the spin-two drive to push further into the universe although it would have been practical up to several hundred light-years. Beyond that, it was possible but not practical as it took too long to find longer links.

  That would change now with Walker and Dag's discovery of the relationship between link distance and energy of vibration of the end point of the link. It should have been a discovery of monumental importance because it could potentially give humans access to the entire galaxy. But it soon became apparent that something was wrong.

  The Outbound was a new fusion ship owned by the Whole Universe Corporation. Powered by a fifth-generation fusion engine. It was small but fast. The latest spin-two drive was aboard as was a second-generation isotopics system that doubled the power storage. It was built for long-distance exploration.

  The Orion Nebula, Messier 42, was its first goal. At a distance of over thirteen-hundred light-years the nebula made an excellent target for the new drive and a Link-Choice system supplied by Link-Choice Navigation (LCN) was installed. LCN was the newest brainchild of Sigmund's to capitalize on Walker's discoveries and Whole Universe was its first customer.

  The three were invited to observe the mission.

  In the control room, the president of Whole Universe was making a speech while they waited for the view link to be established.

  “I just want to say ladies and gentlemen that Whole Universe is proud to be at the forefront of what I believe will be a new era in space exploration. With the spin-two drive and the Link-Choice technology humankind can now break the bounds of our technological strait-jacket. We are truly outbound from our home.

  “I just want to close . . .”

  The president was interrupted when the wallscreen showed the video from the view link.

  “Well perhaps we should just watch for the moment.”

  The picture was centered on a group of bright stars with the wispy, colorful nebula's gas all around. A voice was saying that this view was being taken from a position about twenty light-years away from the star cluster.

  The president of Whole Universe was looking very pleased when the picture flared brightly and went black. A technician was seen whispering something to the president.

  “Ladies and gentlemen I'm afraid we have some technical difficulties. Why don't we move into the conference room for refreshments until the technicians can reestablish the link.”

  The link from the ship never came back. After waiting an hour, Dag, Walker and Sigmund left. They used the companies link system to return to the Perseus where they were staying.

  “Walker do you have the coordinates of the last known location of the Outbound?”

  “Yes Dag.”

  “Well let's take a look.”

  Dag found a link in the direction of the coordinates that Walker gave him.

  “Okay Walker it's probably not exact but it should be close enough for us to get a spectrum. If what I think has happened we will see it in the spectrum. Bring up the scope and spectrometer Walker.”

  After a few minutes Walker proceeded to read the elements from the spectrographic display on his Emmie.

  “The peak at around sixteen hundred Dag. It dominates the spectrum in a very small area. I would say we've found what's left of the Outbound.”

  Dag looked at the Emmie.

  “For it to be that clean a carbon spectrum something must have heated the carbyne tubes of the ship's surface to incredible temperatures. I agree Walker we've found the Outbound.”

  “The Dhalkans?” asked Walker.

  “Probably,” said Dag.

  “How could they have known?”

  “They obviously have us under constant surveillance.”

  “Is that possible?”

  “With the power and technology they control, I'd say it's easy.”

  “Okay I'll ask the important question,” said Sigmund. “Why did they do it? They haven't interfered like this before. Ships are still traveling as far as two-hundred light-years from Earth.”

  “If I were to make a guess Sigmund I'd say we are under quarantine.”

  “But we've linked to the Crab Nebula Dag?”

  “Well they aren't omnipotent, we may have slipped through. But you can bet they will stop us when they can.”

  “You mean they aren't going to allow us to spread any further Dag?”

  “That's my guess Sigmund.”

  “Well I don't think I like it.”

  After the failure of the Outbound other efforts to link beyond a few hundred light-years met with the same results. Eventually, the public became aware of the threat.

  “Red-Line In Space” - The New Gallan Standard

  “So Far And No Further” - Today's Headlines

  “Dhalkan's Quarantine Is For Our Own Good” - The Truth Magazine

  Although the “quarantine” had no immediate effect on commerce and industry there was a noticeable effect on everyday social intercourse. Some welcomed the limits on human expansion. These had no faith that humans wouldn't take their already questionable stewardship of the natural world and spread disaster throughout the galaxy. Others opposed such limits being enforced by an alien entity. They felt that people should make up their own minds about how to conduct their affairs without outside interference.

  On the planet Liberty in the Libertas System, there was almost one-hundred percent agreement. No outsiders such as the Dhalkans had a right to restrict humans to a subset of the stars. Perhaps it was because the System had been settled relatively recently or because it tended to have a younger demographic but there a determination arose to break out of the Dhalkan's blockade.

  In preparation a small and stealthy fusion ship was readied. The inclusion of Link-Choice technology gave the ship the ability to choose its nonlocal link quickly even at sixteen-hundred light-years. A distance many felt would be well beyond the Dhalkan's control.

  Then one night in the sky above Liberty there came to focus a new nebula. A swirling patch of glowing gas that the astronomers were quick to determine was not much more than ten light-minutes away. Over the next few days the phenomenon was discussed and even visited by ships from the planet. It seemed to be no more than it appeared.

  But one evening in the night sky of the eastern hemisphere the cloud of gas seemed to disappear. Before long a star-like light appeared in its place. This light got brighter and brighter over the next ten minutes until it was more luminous than the Libertas System's star. The jet of fast-moving gas and particles struck the atmosphere of Liberty and almost immediately swept it away. The particle storm then slammed into the ground providing enough radiation damage in a minute to scour it clean. The storm raged for over twelve hours until Liberty had rotated its western hemisphere in view and the cleansing was complete.

  It wasn't until later that day that a link-ship entered orbit around what it thought was Liberty only to find an airless, barren and dead planet beneath it. The word was soon flashed to the other human worlds.

  “RIP For An Entire World” - The New Gallan Standard

  “We're Next?” - Today's Headlines

  “The
End Is Near” - The Truth Magazine

  Dag received the news from Sigmund. Upon investigation, he found that astronomers on Earth and elsewhere had been aware of the jets from the nebula, one of which had scoured the planet Liberty clean. The story was too fantastic to be a natural occurrence, Dag immediately suspected the Dhalkans.

  “They must have a way to get more information than just using links. I can't believe they picked up on what those on Liberty planned to do quickly enough to arrange this disaster.”

  “You may be right Sigmund. We may have old fashioned spies in our midst.”

  18

  Now that the blockade was being enforced through threat of death almost no one was supportive. The general consensus was that something should be done. The governments turned to the Ems and the Ems turned to Dag, Walker and Sigmund.

  “Dag my government contact wants to meet with us about the Dhalkan threat.”

  “Sigmund I don't think we should work with the government again and neither does Walker.”

  “But they are offering us a sizable sum.”

  “That doesn't matter. Besides Walker and I have already discussed doing something.”

  “What?”

  “We're going to develop a defense system using the Perseus as a base for our experiments.”

  “We can't use the Perseus it doesn't belong to us.”

  “Yes it does. Some of the equipment aboard doesn't, the governments provided it. That will be returned and we will purchase new equipment using funds from Link-Choice. But I was the one that linked the asteroid itself into orbit around Earth. I was the one that captured it.”

  “Link-Choice money? But that's going to affect the bottom line Dag.”

  “Sigmund we are talking about defending humanity from deadly attacks. What else could be more important?”

  “But I was going to start a public offering. Then we will have plenty of money.”

  “It may be too late by then, we need to come up with a defense right away before more lives are lost.”